Photo taken at Outside of Washington Baths in Coney Island.

"Here’s a picture of my cousin Lois and myself taken around 1956-1957? outside of Washington Baths in Coney Island. I was 8-9 and Lois was 7-8. It was at the end of the day. In the background was a building that housed Shatzkins knishes. It was then the famous Child’s Building

My cousins and I had a routine that we followed every Saturday in the summer. My mother and I would take the D train to Coney Island from our East Broadway stop in Manhattan. My cousin Lois, my cousin Marty and my Uncle Hy and Aunt Lily would be coming also on the D train but they lived further uptown near the 2nd Avenue stop. We would meet under the Tilyou Theater on Surf Avenue at around 10. We would then proceed to the baths for a fun filled day consisting of swimming, playing ping pong and shuffleboard and playing on the separate enclose beach area that they had. At a certain time we had lunch in their outdoor dining area. I remember collecting mission soda bottle caps to play skelzy. At the beach area I always played running bases with my Uncle Hy and cousin Marty. In 1956 Marty was only 4. I remember it was a big graduation day when Marty was old enough to shower and go in the steam room with me and my uncle on the men’s side. Late in the day my father Sol would arrive. He worked in the garment center usually 6 days a week. We would meet him outside. In the picture we may have been waiting for him. Then we would have our following eating routine which would consist of knishes at Shatzkins and hot dogs at Nathans. We would sit on the barrels that Nathans had outdoors. We didn’t play any the games that the carnival barkers had but we would go in the bumper cars. By 8 or so we would all go home on the D train but before we did my father would buy the daily news and mirror and I would either read the sports section or the comics. We were all pretty exhausted and we slept soundly those evenings." Photo courtesy of David Bellel